The incidence of drowning changes with the seasons, but it is important to always be aware of the possibility of drowning, especially where children are involved.
Best Care Ambulance services spokesperson Xander Loubser shared a few tips on drowning.
People can prevent drowning by:
• Always be alert and on the lookout for possible dangerous areas.
• Take heed of the simple hints in this article.
Where Do Children Drown?
In buckets, baths, ponds, lagoons, canals, swamps, the sea, dams, rivers, in paddling or swimming pools and even in drains.
When does this happen?
Anytime. It does not only happen when swimming, but often after having fallen into the water fully clothed.
Water safety hints inside the home:
• NEVER leave small children alone in the bath. Ignore the phone and doorbell or take the child along when they ring.
• Use a non-slip mat in the bath and bathroom.
• Empty baths, tubs and other containers after use or, when it has water in, keep it behind locked doors.
• Always fit lids firmly on buckets of water. Many children have drowned in nappy buckets.
Water safety tips outdoors:
• Children should learn to swim as early as possible.
• It is equally important for them to be trained in survival skills such as floating and treading water. But even then, constant supervision is always necessary.
• A child should never swim alone. Children who cannot swim should be kept away from places where they can drown. Remember buoyancy aids such as inflatable wings and tubes are only aids. Never rely solely on protection from these.
• Warn children against boisterous play in or near water. A dam wall or the area around a swimming pool is no place for riding a bicycle.
• Children should practice coping in water with their clothes on.
• Children should never dive or jump into water they are unacquainted with, or where others are in the way.
Safety in Swimming pools:
• Swimming pools must be properly fenced off and have a childproof lock on the gate. The gate must never be left open.
• To protect a child, add a professionally installed pool safety net to cover your pool.
• Even then, know where your child is. Is the neighbors’ pool adequately fenced and the gate always closed?
• Remember to empty paddling pools when not in use.
In a drowning situation these procedures should be followed:
• Remove the person from the water and turn them on their side.
• Start CPR.
• Call for help.
• Allow emergency services to do their work as soon as they are at the scene.
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